When your boss saves your job - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

When your boss saves your job - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Bob Sutton, author of the excellent book Good Boss Bad Boss tells this story from the very early days at Pixar: The company was under financial pressure and much of this pressure came down on the heads of the Divisions leaders, Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. The new president, Doug Norby, wanted to bring some discipline to Lucasfilm, and was pressing Catmull and Smith to do some fairly deep layoffs. The two couldnt bring themselves to do it. But Norby was unmoved. He was pestering Ed and Alvy for a list of names from the Computer Division to lay off, and Ed and Alvy kept blowing him off. Finally came the order: You will be in my office tomorrow morning at 9:00 with a list of names. So what did these two bosses do? They showed up in his office at 9:00 and plunked down a list. It had two names on it: Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. Remember, there are many great managers out there. If you work for one who isnt great, dont just accept that as the natural state of things. Do something about it. Related posts It pays to be nice to your employees How to handle tough times without layoffs Serving your employees Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related